More Politics

Although Matt Damon and The Office's John Krasinski were reportedly too busy filming to attend, Bay State favorite Ben Affleck hosted a successful fundraiser for Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Monday, which added more than $250,000 to the consumer advocate's war chest.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, which states that the fundraiser held on the rooftop of the Santa Monica building which houses Bad Robot Productions, a TV production company owned by J.J. Abrams, this was a success.

Warren, who is in a heated campaign against Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown for the Senate seat once held by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, raised more money than Brown in the previous quarter although the incumbent still leads in overall cash-on-hand, $15 million to $11 million, according to Federal Election Commission data.

While minimum individual donations at the event called "A Massachusetts Evening," were $1,000 to be a guest, the positions of co-host or co-chair were restricted to those contributing at least $2,500 and $5,000 respectively. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the event drew contributions from big names such as Affleck's wife Jennifer Garner, actor Toby Maguire and even Steven Spielberg.

Although this particular fundraiser drew no official fire from the Massachusetts Republican Party, Brown's campaign did issue a statement taking aim at Warren in relation to the ongoing controversy surrounding her heritage.

"Elizabeth Warren is right at home in a room full of people who make a career out of pretending to be someone they are not," said Colin Reed, a spokesman for the Brown campaign.

For the past several weeks, Warren has been embroiled in a controversy about her Native American ancestry and what part, if any, it played in her career advancement in positions over the years.

Although Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, has repeatedly denied such claims, and the universities that previously hired her released statements saying they weren't aware of such heritage claims or that they played no part in her hiring, the specter of such allegations has lingered.

She has also faced criticism as to whether or not she is actually Cherokee, even 1/32nd, as a New England Historic and Genealogy Society researcher had initially claimed. The organization later retracted its claims as it was unable to produce copies of original documents, prompting the Boston Globe, which originally reported the development, to issue a correction.